The Meddler of the Apes
by ViolinElectrician
Summary: Caroline Cook just wanted to see a movie with her friends, but unfortunately, she ended up in the movie, trying to change how it ends. Another installment in my series of One Extra Piece stories.
1. Magical Bus Stop

Fresh out of college, she was ready to take on the world. _Her _world. This was not in the plan.

Going to see a movie with friends was supposed to be fun, just entertaining. It wasn't supposed to gyrate into an adventure.

_Rise of the Planet of the Apes_; her friends had been begging her to go see it for a while. She wasn't a fan of those kinds of movies. She liked ghosts and treasure hunting, not mad crazy apes wreaking havoc on human beings. But she went. Friends were friends, and she hadn't seen them in some time. So if she had to go to see some movie she didn't want to see, so be it. They were her friends.

She stared up at the screen and found that she was losing herself in the story. It was hard not to. The whole thing was so touching.

That Dodge Landon was a piece of work though; him and that stupid stun stick. She felt bad for a person like that. He must have been so insecure about his own intelligence that the idea of an ape being smarter than him gave him the need to put on this bullying act. But those apes _were_ smarter than Dodge, and deep down he probably knew it, too. But Tom Felton had nice eyes, and, being a materialistic girl for a short few minutes, as well as an extreme humanitarian at the same time, she didn't really want him to _die._ He could have come through… if someone had been there to help him understand, to make him see differently. But… no one was there, so Dodge's life was ended by the apes he tormented for so much time. So young, as well. She didn't know exactly how old Dodge was, even if Tom, himself, was twenty-three, so Dodge could have been younger than the actor who portrayed him, which was even sadder.

Certain violent parts would come on, loud and suspenseful, and during those parts, she would put her headphones in and block it all out. Sure, she would peek up every few seconds to see what was happening, to make sure she didn't miss anything too important, but she didn't really want to hear certain parts.

Finally, the movie ended, and she and her friends stood up from their seats and made their way out of the theater. She listened intently as her friends discussed their favorite and least favorite parts of the film, before making her way to a bus stop by Walgreens alone in the dark night, while her friends headed off to their respective cars. She didn't have a car. She couldn't afford one if she wanted to keep her apartment, so she ended up on the bus every time she wanted to go somewhere. Yes, she could have asked one of her girlfriends to give her a ride, but San Fransisco was nice at night, at least to her. She didn't know about what other people thought. She just liked the streetlights, and it especially didn't bother her when it began to rain. She began to wonder if the rain was dangerous for the streetlights. Would they short or burst into flames? No. They wouldn't be in the streets unless they were water resistant. It would only make them flicker.

No, wait. No, it wouldn't. What part of 'water resistant' didn't these lights get? A gust of wind blew across her back. She looked back. There was nothing there, so she took a seat on the bench. The wind brought with it, though, an eerie feeling that wouldn't pass. She gazed off into the distance and waited for another car to pass by. None came. Down the sidewalk, no pedestrians walked past the stop. She was alone, on a dark, creepy road, with flickering lights in the rain. She couldn't shake the feeling of eyes on her back. She heard a rustling in the bushes behind her. It was the wind. But something else strange struck her. Where the Walgreens used to be, there stood a very different building. It was large and white, with windows up its many stories. It looked familiar, but it wasn't Walgreens.

But maybe she had just thought up the Walgreens. Yes, that must have been it. She brought her eyes straight ahead again. Something else strange; she was sure—absolutely positive—that there had been a bustling restaurant across the street, but now, there was a completely different building. There was another breeze that sent shivers down her spine, and at once, a single car zoomed past her, followed by many others, but no buses. One by one, the lights ceased flickering, some stopping when they were on and some when they were off. The rain didn't stop, though, and no buses came. Not one. Seeing as she didn't recognize where she was, she didn't know how to get to her house.

A person took a seat next to her, a man. He had blond hair and the slightest bit of stubble. He wore a plaid shirt and jeans. It was Tom Felton, but she was in San Fransisco, and he wouldn't have been there. She realized she was staring and looked down quickly. This could not be happening to her. The man's cell phone rang, and he pulled it from his pocket, clearly annoyed while putting it up to his ear.

"Yes, Rodney," he snapped into the phone. She watched the man out of the corner of her eye, suspiciously. She heard muttering on the other end of his line. "Well, cover for me, will you? I'm busy. Tell my dad I was at the library and lost track of time, or something like that. Oh, and feed those stupid _apes_." Her hand tightened around her purse strap and she looked the other direction. After a while, upon realizing that a bus was not coming, the man stood up and walked away down the sidewalk.

"Caroline." The voice was unfamiliar, but its owner knew her name. She stood up and faced the voice. A man stood there, maybe thirty years her senior, looking down at her with a worried expression. "There you are. I was so worried."

"Do I know you?" Caroline asked quietly. The man let a smirk grace his features.

"Of course you do. You don't recognize your own father?"

"My… father?" she asked. She thought back; the changing buildings, Tom Felton not being Tom Felton, this man claiming he was her father. Something wasn't right, but she had a feeling that she wasn't going to be going to her apartment anytime soon. She doubted it even existed here. "Oh, yes, Father. I'm so sorry. It's dark. I couldn't see that it was you," she lied.

"Oh, I see." The man paused. "What have you been doing? You left the house to go to the market, but you never came home."

"Yes, well, I…" She _what_? "…I was going to the market, but I got lost."

"Lost? Honey, you have been to this part of town many times."

"Have I?"

"Yes. Whatever is the matter with you?"

"Oh, um…" She brushed a strand of her straight black hair behind her ear, but it pulled itself free and dropped back to its original position. "I think I may be having a spell of some sort… I had trouble sleeping last night."

"Oh. Yes, Darling. Well, let's go back to the house and I'll go out for groceries tomorrow."

"Okay. I'm sorry. And call me Cook," she said instinctively. She bit her lip. _How did I let that slip?_

"I'm sorry. You tell me that all the time, I know, but it's just instinct for me to call you Caroline."

"Right, well. That's okay."

Caroline Cook then followed her 'Father' into the night, totally confused as to what was going on.


	2. Bullies & Cattle Prods

It was a big fancy house. She gawked at the two staircases leading upstairs and the single table with a very nice flower arrangement sitting in the center of the room. Obviously, 'Mr. Cook,' or 'Father,' was very well off. It reassured Caroline Cook just a little bit, because she knew that this man would have no reason to kidnap her for ransom. That ruled out one bad possibility. And anyhow, if he did try anything on her, she knew karate. Well, sort of. She had seen karate movies. She knew how to kick him.

"Caro," Father said as they entered the kitchen. She winced discreetly upon hearing the all-too-common nickname, but said nothing. "Tomorrow, I'm going to have to head in to the facility early, at about seven. I know I say that every day." Cook leaned on the countertop.

"The facility?" she asked, trying not to sound too curious. Father opened the fridge.

"Yes, for the apes."

"What do you do at the facility again, Father?"

"I know we co-own the place, but I do whatever needs doing."

Caroline observed the man known now to her as Father. He looked worn out, exhausted at the idea of 'doing whatever needed doing.' She felt bad for him. He was well into his sixties and she was twenty-two; young, strong. She didn't look twenty-two, though. She had straight black hair with bangs, brown-yellow eyes, and dainty facial features. She looked at least four years younger than her age, and it bugged her.

"Father, we co-own the facility, and you do these things out of the goodness of your heart. From what I can tell, Mr. Landon does nothing," she said, winging this completely. "Maybe I should go to the facility," she offered. He looked up, a glimmer of hope in his tired eyes. "You can have a day of rest tomorrow."

"Oh, I couldn't do that to you, Caroline."

"Yes, you absolutely could." There was a pause.

"Just this one time." She was now sure that she was in the movie. She was also sure she was dreaming, but that wouldn't stop her from having a little fun. This _was_ a rather vivid dream, anyway.

"Of course, Father."

* * *

><p>Cook shifted in the bed. Of course, she hadn't quite come to the conclusion that Father wasn't dangerous, but she kept telling herself it had to be just a realistic dream. She had even come so close as to say maybe she had a few too many drinks that she couldn't remember. There was just one thing eating at her, though; she couldn't be dreaming if she never fell asleep, and she didn't remember going to bed. <em>Drinking,<em> she said. _I must have been drinking! Or maybe I took drugs… LSD?_ No, that couldn't be it. She knew nothing about LSD, and she would never do drugs. _Maybe I was drunk and I took drugs!_

Okay, maybe not. This was stupid. She was a big girl. She was where she was, might as well make the best of it. Everything happened for a reason, so she closed her eyes, and with that thought in her mind, went to sleep.

* * *

><p><em>BEEP, BEEP!<em>

_WHACK!_

_BEE—_

What a pathetic alarm clock. The beep slowed to silence like a dying robot, and Cook sat up in the bed. _Facility._ She kind of wished she had never offered, but she couldn't back out now. She figured her clothes weren't all that dirty, and was about to wear them for that day, too, but as she was walking out of the room, she noticed a piece of fabric sticking out of the closet doors. Cautiously, she observed and eventually opened the doors. The closet was filled with clothes, her size, and _clean._ Thank goodness. It excited her that she had never seen any of these items before, but they were in her room; definitely hers. The hardest part of her outfit coordination was pants. Her mom had always said that skinny jeans were unattractive, but Cook was a small person, and nothing really looked bad on her frame, so she eventually went with skinny rather than straight leg and made her way downstairs. Father was still in bed, so she had freedom to do whatever she wanted until seven. She flipped through channels, and went through the fridge. When she found nothing to appeal to her taste, she rushed out the door. She wanted to find a café, get to work, _and_ have time to get lost.

Wandering about the new San Francisco, she found a Starbucks. She finished off a bagel, and iced coffee, realizing she hadn't eaten since the afternoon before. Finally, after disposing of her trash, she walked to her car (it was just a car she had taken from Father's garage. How else was she supposed to get there?). She had Googled the facility and programmed its address into her navigator, but it was no help if she didn't have a starting point. It took her about twenty minutes (thank goodness it was only six fifteen) of poking, prodding and messing up to figure out how to program the Starbucks as her starting point and she began heading off towards her destination.

As she was driving, though, she saw a familiar building, and pulled into its parking lot. She probably wasn't supposed to be there, but she was still half-convinced that this was a dream, so she didn't much care. She pulled the keys from the ignition and got out of the car. A few people in suits eyed her as she walked inside, wondering why someone in a black tank top and checkered shirt was going into an office like this. Okay, she was out of place. They didn't need to stare. As soon as she entered the building, she knew where she was. It was the office from the movie; Dr. Will Rodman worked here.

"Hello," a voice said. She turned on her heel.

"Hi." A man stood there.

"I'm Dr. Rodman. Do you work here?" he asked her.

"Oh, no," she explained. "I'm having a… I have spells sometimes where I don't pay much attention. I guess I just walked right into the wrong building."

"Oh, I see."

"So you're Dr. Rodman," she suddenly said, in awe. He looked surprised.

"Yes. You sound as if you know me?"

"Oh… I…" She had to think fast. "My Father co-owns the San Bruno Primate Facility. I've heard about your study on… ALZ-112."

"Oh, you have." Dr. Rodman looked disheartened at this, slightly.

"Yeah… Um, what time is it?" she asked. Dr. Rodman checked his watch.

"Six fourty-five."

"Oh, gosh! I'm so sorry. I should be at the facility, right now. I have to go. My name is Caroline Cook, by the way."

"I might see you at the facility. A… _friend_ of mine is there. Can I bother you with a favor?"

"Yes."

"His name is Caesar. He just started staying there last week. Could you see to it that he's being taken care of?"

"Of course." That settled it. It was after the ALZ-112 incident; Caesar was in the facility, and Dr. Rodman was going to start ALZ-113. They said goodbyes and Cook left to drive to the facility. She was slightly worried now. Would she be able to work around apes? She came to the gated enclosure, with a sign on it reading _San Bruno Primate Facility,_ and got out of the car. As she entered the building, she was intercepted by Mr. Landon.

"Do I know you?" he asked. She sighed and rolled her eyes.

"I'm Caroline Cook." Mr. Landon took a step back.

"Miss Cook. You're Evan's daughter." She nodded. "But you don't usually come here, what with your university studies. Or have you graduated?"

"I have. My Father was tired so I offered to come in for him today."

"Oh, I see. I didn't know you were so _caring._"

"He's my Father." Already, she didn't like Mr. Landon, and not just because she had seen him in the movie.

"Yes, well, just patrol around. Rodney and Dodge, my son, do most of the work around here, but when you see something you think you need to do, just do it."

"I'll do that. Which way is the ape enclosure?"

Mr. Landon raised an arm and pointed, before turning and walking off. Cook approached the door he had pointed to and went that direction.

The hall was humid and dark. There was the noise of the apes sensing her arrival, wanting to know who she was, but she went to one cage. This ape was Caesar. She could tell from the sweater and jeans.

"Hi, Caesar," she said. The ape inched forward. "Will asked me to make sure you were alright." She stuck her hand through the cage in the respectful gesture of asking permission. He stroked her palm, not used to being the one to give permission. She stood outside the cage, staring at the ape. Behind her, a door opened and closed.

"Who are you?" She spun around. _Dodge Landon._ He hopped down the stairs and soon they were face to face. He was brandishing his stun stick, the thing that would lead to the death of him.

"I'm Cook. My dad Co-owns this place, with your dad."

"What do you know about my dad?"

"He said his son worked here."

"How do you know I'm not Rodney?"

"Lucky guess. Put that away." She motioned to the stun stick.

"Why would I do that?"

"It's making me nervous." It was. She didn't want him to—

"This is my way of controlling these… things." He was obviously choosing his words carefully, but not his actions. She watched as he flicked the stun stick on and dragged the tip along the cages, sending blue sparks flying about the enclosure, and the apes into panic. She let out a small noise in surprise and clapped a hand over her mouth. Seeing it in the theater was shocking enough, but first hand was an instant heart attack. He turned the stick off again. Without thinking, she snatched the thing from his hand and threw it down the hall. "What do you think you're doing?" he snapped.

"You're insane!" He didn't reply, but marched off down the hall to get his 'control mechanism.' "Jerk. You don't even know what you're doing." He took that differently than she'd meant it. He didn't know what he was doing. He was creating enemies out of these apes, and setting the stage for his own death. He scowled at her and she turned back to Caesar's cage. She looked inside at the manic ape. "Caesar! Caesar, calm down!" she said loudly. "Calm down!" she shouted. Her voice reverberated off of the walls. Soon, the room was in silence. The apes had stopped moving, as had Dodge. With that, she spun around and stomped out of the room. The apes started jumping around and shrieking again.

"Shut up, you damn dirty apes!" Dodge ordered. His exclamation didn't have the same effect as Cook's, though, so it did nothing.


	3. Place of Control

**Hey, guys. Sorry about the short chapter, but I have had a serious case of writer's block (I'm taking ideas, anyone?). I would have made it longer but I know you guys want this chapter up, so I am just going to post it, and begin the next chapter, but seriously, if anyone has any ideas, I'll credit you for helping me. I just can't get past this writer's block. **

* * *

><p>"How were things at the facility, Caro?" Father asked as Cook entered the kitchen.<p>

"Fine," she spat. She didn't mean to be rude but Dodge had made her so mad that day.

"You don't sound fine." Cook sighed, feeling that she had to tell him.

"Mr. Landon's son—Dodge—real piece of work—has a stupid electric cattle prod that he carries around—idiot…"

"Wow, I think you just fit a whole paragraph into one sentence."

"Sorry. He just… he doesn't think. He does things and doesn't even bother with cause and effect."

"Did he use the cattle prod on the apes?"

"No. He used it on the cage—sent the apes into frenzy—was like being in between freaking Tesla Coils—Jerk."

"You're doing it again."

"Sorry."

"Look, Dodge Landon is my partner's son, so I don't have the authority to fire him unless I get the go-ahead from John."

"He's just—ugh! Those apes aren't going to forget that. If one of them got loose—"

"They would go after Dodge. You should tell him that. You can't make him think differently, but you can encourage him to practice caution."

"Something tells me caution isn't the first thing on his mind."

"Sounds to me that the only thing on his mind is being smarter than those apes."

"Yeah… I want to keep going back, is that okay?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Of course."

"That's alright with you?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"Well, today you weren't so sure."

"Yes, well. I didn't want to impose on you, darling, but if you want to, I really could use a _few_ more days off." He gave her a small smile and a wink. She chuckled to herself.

* * *

><p>The first thing Cook saw when she entered the lounge at the facility was Dodge glowering at her.<p>

"Hi," she said in a false-chipper tone.

"You're here."

"I'm here."

"Why?"

"Because I'm taking over my father's spot, temporarily, at least."

"Great."

"What? Still upset I threw your stupid cattle prod?"

"No. Why would I be upset you threw my property?"

"Why do you use that thing?"

"I told you already."

"Why? Because it puts you in control?"

"That's what I said."

"Why do you need to be in control, Dodge?" He looked up at this. Clearly, he hadn't the slightest idea how to answer it. "They're in cages."

"That's where they belong."

"You didn't answer me. Those apes have better memories than we do and they will remember _everything_ you have done to them, and just imagine if one of them gets loose."

"You're mistaken. I'm in control, here. Not them."

"No, they aren't in control, yet." He responded to her by walking off. She wondered if he had caught that last part; _yet_. They weren't in control now, but they would be. And she was the only one who knew it. _Because I'm dreaming,_ she reminded herself, but she was actually starting to doubt that.

* * *

><p>As she distributed the slop that was Mr. Landon and Dodge's idea of "food" to each of the apes, her thoughts clashed and fought each other in her head.<p>

_Why is this so real?_

_Because it is._

_No, it's a dream. It has to be._

_But it's not._

_Yes, it is._

_You're lying to yourself. _

_I've been lying a lot lately. It's starting to weigh on my conscious. _

_But you're dreaming so why should it matter? _

_It doesn't. _

_Then why are you feeling so guilty?_

_How do you know what I'm feeling?_

_I'm you._

_I'm not having this argument with you._

_You mean you? _

Finally, she got to the last cage, and decided that, even in a dream, hearing voices probably wasn't considered a good thing. She gave Caesar the same apologetic look she had given all of the apes on her side as she poured out a scoop of the "food."

"Do you think there's any hope for him?" she asked quietly, so Rodney, who was feeding the opposite row, wouldn't hear. Caesar didn't nod, or speak, which he was likely capable, but unaware of. Instead he gave her a look. She didn't know what it meant, but figured she already knew too much about where she was to be asking more questions.

Although, she did have hope. Dodge wasn't ever quite a _villain,_ but just a… well, a really arrogant _boy._ She could get through to that… possibly. Okay, it was a long shot, but she had to try. Well, not really, but she was going to try. Otherwise, she would have been just a waste of space.

All of a sudden, "How long are you going to be doing this job?" She looked up. Rodney had finished his row and was setting his bucket down at the end of it.

"Until I get tired of it."

"You're not tired of it yet?" he asked, surprised.

"Do you want me to stop coming, Rodney?"

"No," he said, nervously. "It's just… I would think with Dodge, that you would—"

"I'm not afraid of Dodge, Rodney. Karma."

"What?"

"What goes around comes around, Rodney."

"What do you mean?"

"He's a bully. He mistreats the apes, he mistreats me, he mistreats you; eventually, it will swing back around and hit him right in the face."

"Do you really think so—" Rodney began, but he was cut off.

"What is taking so long?" They both looked up. Cook fixed Dodge with a glare.

"Nothing," she said.

"Are you done?"

"Yes, we're done."

"Well, then why are you just standing there?"

"Don't talk to me like that. I don't work for you."

"My dad owns this place."

"So does mine. If anything we're equal in power, so don't talk down to me." Dodge grimaced and turned to the one who was not his 'equal in power.'

"Rodney, let the apes out." By 'out' he meant into their daytime enclosure. Rodney quickly obeyed. Cook rolled her eyes at Dodge and pushed past him, heading for the employee's lounge. She grabbed her bag off of the couch and headed out. She got into her car and made a beeline for Gen-Sys Laboratories. Never mind that she might not be allowed to see Dr. Rodman, but she just needed to be somewhere other than with Dodge.


End file.
